The present invention relates to a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus, such as a cassette video tape recorder (VTR), having a tape loading mechanism, and, more particularly, to an improvement in a capstan thereof.
A VTR is designed to use a magnetic tape, accommodated in a tape cassette for the purpose of saving labor required for loading the magnetic tape, and a tape loading mechanism is provided therein. Upon the tape cassette being inserted into the apparatus, the tape loading mechanism automatically draws out the magnetic tape from the tape cassette so as to set the tape to a rotary cylinder. As a result, a predetermined tape passage is formed.
The tape loading mechanism of the type described above is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-273769. wherein the tape loading mechanism comprises a guide base arranged so as to be movable around the rotary cylinder and guide members such as guide pins and guide rollers which are disposed on the guide base. In the loading operation, when the tape cassette is inserted into the tape loading mechanism, the guide base moves accompanied by the guide members so as to catch the magnetic tape accommodated in the tape cassette. As a result, the magnetic tape is withdrawn from the tape cassette. Then, the guide members cause the magnetic tape to be spirally wound around the rotary cylinder at a predetermined angle. As a result, the predetermined passage through which the magnetic tape is able to pass can be defined. Accompanying with the loading operation, a pinch roller is also moved so as to hold the magnetic tape in cooperation with the capstan in the state in which the magnetic tape has been set and thereby the predetermined tape passage has been formed. Thus, the magnetic tape is run through the tape passage by the capstan rotated by a motor.
The VTR of the type described above is designed in such a manner that the capstan mechanism comprising a capstan motor is disposed on a chassis on a side opposite to the side to which the rotary cylinder is provided, the opposite side on which the capstan mechanism is disposed being called "a rear side of a chassis" hereinafter. The capstan is arranged so as to penetrate a through hole formed in the chassis so that the capstan projects over the surface of the chassis.
Recently, VTRs have been reduced in size and thickness, with the reduction in size causing the guide members and the capstan, for forming the tape passage, to be disposed adjacent to the rotary cylinder.
However, the degree of the reduction in thickness is limited in dependence upon the height of the rotary cylinder from the surface of the chassis and the arrangement of the capstan motor. Because the conventional capstan is disposed so as to project in an upward direction wherein the rotary shaft of the motor serves as the capstan, the capstan motor is inevitably below the capstan, that is adjacent to the chassis.